PACK HORSES GIVE TROUBLE 265

was faced on one occasion when packing commenced on
the twenty-three horses that were needed to carry the
necessary outfit.

If there is anything on earth which will make a man
use bad language it is handling pack horses. When the
horses are used to their work it is bad enough, as even
then most of them have annoying tricks, and many of
them will wait for a good opportunity to take a bite at
one’s arm or leg or whatever part of one’s anatomy is
handiest for them to reach. When, however, you have a
lot of great big lumbering colts to struggle with, who
rear and buck and bite and plunge about, it becomes a
labour of considerable magnitude. Often, too, they are
so obstreperous that the work is fraught with constant
risks of getting injured.

Now the bunch of horses to which I refer, though a
fine, strong, well-built lot, certainly tried our tempers
and caused us to use much strong language, because the
mild expostulations with which we first began to exhort
them had no effect whatever. Nevertheless, in spite of
their unruliness we accomplished our task in a compara-
tively short time ; much previous practice had taught us
the most expeditious ways to deal with them. They
were then turned loose to do their worst, and the journey
was commenced.

What a time we had that day. There was not as much
actual bucking as we expected, but if those horses were
not scattered to the four winds over half a mile of country,
they were all up in a bunch milling around, pushing and
shoving and going any way but the way they were wanted
to. It was as bad as driving a herd of pigs! There was
trouble enough while we had a trail to travel on, but
after the first three miles we had to turn off and make
our way through spruce forest, over swamps and rocky
ground, up hill and down hill, without a trail of any kind,
but just picking our way as best we could. That first
part of our trip is by far the worst travelling of any there,
and is to be dreaded both going out and coming in, too,
even when the horses are steadied down and going well.